# Very Minor Things That REALLY Annoy You? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328 "2009-01-28T01:36:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/41 "2009-01-28T16:55:29Z")
> [@Tenebras](#): > > Brands with random capitalization. Like PowerAde. > > Also, there’s this guy at my gym who went and changed the combination to his lock. Now I’ll have to bring my own $2 every time I work out so I can buy a PowerAde after I work out. Were you stealing his drink then?? I obsess over clipping my fingernails, and I do it way too often and make em way too short. But when other people are doing it, I cannot stand the sound. Drives me nuts ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/42 "2009-01-28T17:02:04Z")
OCD about my bod. It tempts me to countless acts of willful small-scale destruction. I can’t let a hangnail go unclipped, or I’ll rip it and bleed. I don’t dare let a loose thread dangle from a button, either, because I will just _have_ to pull it and send the button flying. It’s a very dark force within me - I sometimes wonder what it’d do if I had more initiative and energy. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/43 "2009-01-28T17:02:28Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Folks who try to multitask by “holding a conversation” with you while simultaneously doing something at their computer. This results in long, drawn-out inattentive blathering while you’re standing there tapping your foot waiting for them to Finish. The. Damn. Sentence. before you die of old age. One of my bosses does this, as well as my husband. Drives me fargin’ nuts. May I add “multitasking” in general. There is no such thing as multitasking, unless you’re that guy who can write with both hands and both feet in four different languages whilst reciting the Lord’s Prayer in Esperanto. What you are actually doing is working on many different things, yes, but not more than one (possibly two, depending) at any given moment. It doesn’t help that this contention is usually made by people with a high sense of self-importance, but who do shoddy work. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/44 "2009-01-28T17:05:56Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Riding with people who must find the perfect parking spot. I personally have no problem parking in the hinterlands and walking an extra couple of hundred feet. So it drives me nuts when the driver cruises up and down the rows in the lot for five minutes looking for an open spot. This is even funnier when I see people doing it at the gym. > [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Were you stealing his drink then?? :rolleyes: No, the $2. I didn’t like the flavors he was bringing, or I would have. ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/45 "2009-01-28T17:07:10Z")
I hate it when people interrupt me when I’m busy with something at work. Are you so important that you can’t wait five minutes until I’m off the phone or finished my email to the client? It sucks to be interrupted when I’m on a particular train of thought and I have to regrasp it when someone thoughtlessly interrupts with something that can be dealt with later. I’m busy. GO AWAY. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/46 "2009-01-28T17:13:31Z")
> [@Grapefruit](#): > > I hate it when people interrupt me when I’m busy with something at work. Are you so important that you can’t wait five minutes until I’m off the phone or finished my email to the client? It sucks to be interrupted when I’m on a particular train of thought and I have to regrasp it when someone thoughtlessly interrupts with something that can be dealt with later. I’m busy. GO AWAY. Isn’t that pretty much the definition of work in a free-market society: doing not-so-important things Right Now for thoughtless people because they pay you? Otherwise money would come in big rolls on the trees like toilet paper etc. etc. etc. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/47 "2009-01-28T17:15:45Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I guess I don’t know what the proper protocol is either, but I can’t for the life of me think of anything else they could have said. “Give this to Mom”? That sounds odd, because your mother isn’t _his_ mom. Plus, that sounds like something you’d say when you’re closer, like in the next room, not when you live apart. And it’d sound even stranger to say, “Give this to Carol”, or whatever her name is, when she’s your mother. What did you want them to call each other? I was wondering this too. Maybe they’d rather their parents said “your Mom” and “Your Dad”? I say “your Mom” to my kids, as well as “your Mother”. (We’re not divorced.) Maybe I’ll just start using “Yo Mama!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/48 "2009-01-28T17:22:22Z")
When people ask me to do something via e-mail and they end the request with “thx.” Does it really take that much extra effort, after writing a 100-word message, to type “thanks”? I’ve started replying, when the task is completed, “Y’r wlcm.” ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/49 "2009-01-28T17:41:17Z")
People who won’t let the people who are on the train/bus get out first before trying to get in. Not only is it inconsiderate, but it’s completely idiotic in a practical sense. Bonus strangle points if at \*their \*stop, they bitch and moan at other people doing the same thing to them. ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/50 "2009-01-28T17:42:14Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Isn’t that pretty much the definition of work in a free-market society: doing not-so-important things Right Now for thoughtless people because they pay you? Otherwise money would come in big rolls on the trees like toilet paper etc. etc. etc. > > :dubious: I meant it more along the lines of when I’m actually doing something that’s part of my job description (ie getting back to clients about the details of our services) than some shmuck coming around asking me things that they could easily figure out for themselves if they spent a whole two seconds thinking about it (ie “Grapefruit, can you tell me if I spelled this right?”) If it’s my boss, I’ll grit my teeth and answer… because yes, it helps to kiss ass sometimes. But if it’s any body else, I’ll grit my teeth and ignore… because if they have a problem with that, they can kiss my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/51 "2009-01-28T17:46:18Z")
My point was: Isn’t kiss-ass and gritted teeth, by default, part of _any_ job description? ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/52 "2009-01-28T18:00:17Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Not quite the same but very close. > > My parents divorced when I was about 13 yrs old. After the divorce, they always referred to each other as “your Father” or “your Mother”. I really don’t know what the proper protocol is, but it really irritated me when mom would say “you should call your Father” or Dad would say “give this to your Mother.” It sounds petty now that i am 48 yrs old, but I hated it when I was a kid. 😕 My parents never got divorced, but that is exactly how they referred to each other all the time. I can’t think of any other way that sounds even halfway normal to me. “My husband wants to talk to you.” ??? “Mrs. Brown needs your help in the kitchen.” ??? “Give this to the female head of the household.” ??? How did they refer to each other when speaking to you PRIOR to the divorce? Oh, wait, were you a family where the kids called the parents by their first names? ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/53 "2009-01-28T18:00:25Z")
My point being: there are some people’s ass you don’t have to kiss. Depends on where you are in the hierarchy. ---
**Author:** ![orderfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orderfire/32/10908_2.png) [@orderfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orderfire)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/54 "2009-01-28T18:13:16Z")
Hearing someone chew. My father sounds like he has horse hooves for teeth, and the glorping, overmasticating sounds that accompany the clopping makes me want to vomit. Why on earth must you make all that noise when you yawn? Honestly, a yawn can be silent, and should be. You needn’t do your Little Toot impression (“Hawwwhh HAAHHHHHH HUHHH HUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH…”), everyone within earshot doesn’t need to be convinced you’re exhausted. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/55 "2009-01-28T18:30:06Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > And it’d sound even stranger to say, “Give this to Carol”, or whatever her name is, when she’s your mother. What did you want them to call each other? Not strange at all. It is presumably what they called each other _before_ the divorce, and the kids have been referring to step-parents by their name since the kids were in their early teens well over 3 decades ago. The “your mother/your father” bit is some sort of psychological denial mechanism. OK for a tear or so I guess, but time to get over it and move on after that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/56 "2009-01-28T18:32:11Z")
Being insisted upon. “Do you want to go to the art house with us and watch Frenchmovie?” -“No thanks, I’m not really into those movies.” “But it’s a really good movie. You’ll like it.” -“Really, no.” “It’s really smart and deep. Maybe you should try something different than Hollywood movies.” -“No. Thank You.” “It’s not very long, it’s only…” -“I said NO, Goddammit!” ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/57 "2009-01-28T18:41:54Z")
Hallways are for getting from one part of a building to another. That’s it. That’s all. This is an office building. It’s literally full of offices. Some of these “offices” have weird names like “break room” and “conference room” that have plenty of room in which to stand around and talk. The hallway? Not so much. If you are planning to say more than “Hi, howareya” to a person, get out of the hallway! There’s no reason to have a 4 or 5 person meeting in the middle of tha hallway - just get out of my way! And while I’m on the subject, reading while walking down the hallway also pisses me off. Instead of walking slowly and bumping into people because you can’t see where you’re going, put the paper back in the folder and walk to your office, cube, or other unoccupied area. Then read. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/58 "2009-01-28T18:43:28Z")
[QUOTE=Tijuana\_Golds] Being insisted upon… “It’s not very long, it’s only…” -“I said NO, Goddammit!” [/QUOTE] It’s only wafer-thin… [QUOTE=Gordon Urquhart] I’ve started replying, when the task is completed, “Y’r wlcm.” [/QUOTE] A co-worker is even more economical with the letters, and they’ll respond with “YW.” ETA: Oops… forgot to say that what bugs me is that out of three adults in the house, I’m the only one that knows how to remove the trash bag from a can and transport it to the trash bin in the garage. Also the only one that knows how to roll the bin to the curb on Wednesday night. I also seem to be the only one that understands highly technical bathroom things like putting a new roll of paper on the spindle, rather than leaving the empty core. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/59 "2009-01-28T18:49:28Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > How did they refer to each other when speaking to you PRIOR to the divorce? > Oh, wait, were you a family where the kids called the parents by their first names? No, and the “your mother/father” bit extends to conversations with those outside the family as well. It is as though there is a pronoun that must be used as a euphemism, and the antecedent can not be re-used since the last time it was used decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328/60 "2009-01-28T18:50:13Z")
> [@AngelSoft](#): > > When my mom plucks her chin hairs…drives me NUTS. > > And the sound of someone clipping their finger/toenails. > > I’ve been known to completely lose my temper over those two things and everyone thinks I’m being unreasonable. No, they’re being unreasonable by not listening to me and just STOP IT. Would you rather she _didn’t_ pluck them bad boys? Because I can’t stand it when my mom lets her mustache grow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-minor-things-that-really-annoy-you/483328.md?page=4)